Campus Culture is committed to serving the students of the University of Michigan and providing them with everything they need to know about student culture. Needless to say, we have opinions that need to be aired out like Necto at two a.m. (so damp…). An Ins and Outs list is a necessity for the culture — Campus Culture, that is. Yik Yak barely begins to flesh out the essential details of what’s hot and what’s not. We are trying to do the historical work of documenting why Doc Martens are essential for the preservation of student social life (or at least mine).
Before we begin, we’d thought we’d give you a little knish (we all know the tea) and provide an aggregate In and Out list, because the best hot takes come in quick succession.
— Matthew Eggers, Campus Culture Beat Editor
IN:
Micro Niche Meme Accounts
Library Bathrooms
Froyo
Lecture Recordings
Seasonal Drinks
Sleeping on the Bus
OUT:
MCards
Yik Yak
Campus Connector
Canada Goose Jackets
Seasonal Affective Disorder
Mark Schlissel
So here we are — Kaya Ginsky and Matthew Eggers. We have taken it upon ourselves to make the official Campus Culture Ins and Outs list for 2021. We will try to keep it brief, but to be real, the best Ins and Outs lists come by listening to the one-hour loop version of “Haunted” by Laura Les (why can’t I be like Maude Apatow?).
IN:
Micro Niche Meme Accounts —
As much as I consider myself a Campus Culture writer, at this point, I am basically on the Digital Culture beat. All I ever think about is memes. And what’s really devastating is that I know there are people who spend even more time thinking about the state of meme culture than I do.
These micro-niche accounts present a curated selection of memes that best fit their small shared interest on campus. If you like belittling people who drink milk, so do I — and there’s an Instagram page for us! @umich_milkdrinkers has your daily dose of candid photos of people caught in the act. If you like British people, I don’t. But if you do, @incellectuals_umich provides a post-modern look into on-campus meme culture. And of course who could forget the OG @umichaffirmations? They paved the way for internet culture to become more important than flyers in the Diag. It was a big moment in 2021 and will remain iconic in 2022.
Library Bathrooms —
Confession… I have IBS. Not really, but every time I take an exam, my sphincter feels like it’s about to implode. Clearly, I need solace, and you can’t find that when you’re sharing a bathroom with two of your BFFs. Library bathrooms have entered the chat. If you get it, you get it, and if you don’t, you are missing out. There is such a sense of euphoria I get from going to the library now. I’m excited to walk in, even when I don’t have to go. The library loves me.
Who else would let me find comfort in a bathroom with harsh fluorescent lighting? Who else would ask if I wanted to check out a book? Of course, we love the library! Not to mention that their collection of digital resources has saved my behind in the academic sense as well. Totally recommend it, and would go again.
Frozen Yogurt —
When did froyo stop being trendy? It’s sweet, light and feels oddly healthy considering the mountains of cookie and brownie dough piled on top. While self-serve froyo places took over the suburbs by the dozens in the 2010s, it feels like the froyo craze is over. But the underrated sweet deserves a comeback. As a froyo fangirl before and after it was cool, I recommend campus favorites Moon Cafe and Amer’s Deli.
Lecture Recordings —
I physically can’t bring myself to walk into a lecture hall at nine in the morning. I don’t know whether it’s my lack of vitamin C, my Britney Spears alarm clock noise or listening to hyperpop right before going to bed (probably that, TBH). Nine a.m. lectures aren’t an option. Having a recording ready at 10:40 makes my life so much easier. It’s not that I don’t want to go to class, but class doesn’t have a 1.5x speed option… just kidding!
I am here for education after all, and who am I to pass up a class to learn about the ins and outs of logic design. For real though, thank you to the professors who provide more accommodations than a simple Piazza post.
Seasonal Drinks —
Students deserve the joy that comes from a designer drink for all of 2022. While it’s often mocked, ordering apple cider, pumpkin spice lattes or peppermint hot chocolates at a coffee shop is not embarrassing. Seasonalizing these drinks only adds to the stigma. We deserve to enjoy the comforting tastes of artificial flavoring year-round and without shame.
Sleeping on the Bus —
It’s two a.m.. You just finished your partying in Kerrytown/Necto/Frat Row/wherever and you just got on the bus back to North. This is an experience few really understand, but it is a necessity to me. Slouching against the edge of the chair, you can get five minutes of the best sleep ever on Bursley-Baits. Just for a moment, exams, homework and friend group drama all fade into the monotonous drone of the engine.
If anything, finding peace among the hectic need to do is some of the most restorative work you could do — so make sleeping on the bus in for 2021.
OUT:
MCards —
I am so tired of losing my MCard. It’s the same thing every time: I go to a dining hall to get food one time because my fridge is empty. I sit down, I eat and I leave. Two days go by, I open my wallet and BOOM. Missing MCard. I have to shuffle on down to Pierpont Commons or the Student Activities Building to get a new one, only to lose it again two months later. For all of those who ask, I will never wear a lanyard.
ALSO, I looked ugly in my last photo so … it’s an out for me.
Yik Yak —
How am I supposed to be considered funny, esoteric and pretty if no one knows that I’m PNM Princess? No, sadly, I am not the Radio Rebel of Ann Arbor. But even if I was, Yik Yak is too anonymous for my liking.
Re-established since its failure in the mid-2010s, Yik Yak is the app that combines the pettiness of suburban HOAs with teenage angst. Its return is a major one, but one I perceive to be short-lived. Who can be funny without being egotistical? Not me.
Campus Connector —
Rest In Peace, my sweet. You were always my favorite. I know what the others must think, but you were my rock throughout my freshman year. You understood what it meant to be so late that you end up being on time.
None of the other bus routes even do the left turn onto Glen Avenue — only you gave me the anxiety sweats so easily. And the open windows… your aesthetic was as effervescent as it was convoluted. Bursley-Baits is holding strong. But between you and me, Northwood is not slaying as hard as it should.
Canada Goose Jackets —
I get it, we are in Michigan. The wind chill is literally a force that can push against your body. Still, I don’t see the appeal in a jacket that expensive. Coming from the person who has been wearing the same hole-ridden North Face puffer for years, this out is a very weak one.
Maybe I’m just jealous, but I just can’t keep up with the prestige. Next thing you know, you’re going to have me running to the store to get an Apple Watch and a Jeep Wrangler. The supply is just outweighing the demand (or is it the other way around?). I don’t know, I’m not an Econ major. Either way, it’s OUT.
Seasonal Affective Disorder —
Let’s collectively agree to make this out (for my sake and yours). Vitamin D deficiencies do not ruin my life! The sun going down at four p.m. doesn’t make me question my mortality! Below zero temperatures do not make my skin turn to ash and my brain turn to mush! We love winter! Go blue!
In all seriousness, seasonal affective disorder and associated mental health complications are serious issues for college students, and resources are available at campus counseling and the Wolverine Support Network.
Mark Schlissel —
… enough said.
To be frank, we have had enough! We are leaving 2021 behind in hopes that 2022 will be the yassified version of 2019 (no, I won’t be elaborating).
To put an end to this otherwise chaotic article, we want to say the biggest “in” last year, next year and every year is art by students. I cannot emphasize what wonderful work is being done on campus by student theatre like Basement Arts, dance groups like RhythM Tap Ensemble or the fashion we bring to the Diag every day. I’m grateful to be on a campus that embraces cultural commentary daily, and that is The Michigan Daily!
Campus Culture Beat Editor Matthew Eggers and Daily Arts Writer Kaya Ginsky can be reached at eggersm@umich.edu and kginsky@umich.edu.